II St. Petersburg International New Music Festival “reMusik”

The reMusik Festival is a point of intersection where the diverse world views of contemporary composers meet at a crossroads of musical paths that have emerged in the past few years.

The festival offers various musical concepts that facilitate the learning and understanding of a new, unique musical language of numerous dialects created by late 20th century and 21st century composers. St. Petersburg audiences will find themselves in heretofore unknown musical territory, where a spectrum of new sounds and shades will appear and excite their attention. The leading Western European and Russian contemporary groups have been invited to our city, and interaction with these musicians is an important part of the festival: in addition to concerts, there will be master classes and meetings, allowing the musicians of St. Petersburg to expand their knowledge of the contemporary performing arts.

One of the central tenets to the programming of the festival this year is to exhibit how the convergence of different yet related cultures is beginning to formulate a new branch of European art, as well as in new academic music. For this reason, 2014 festival focuses on composers arising out of the unification of musical cultures from France and Switzerland.

– Mehdi Hosseini Artistic Director of the Saint-Petersburg International New Music Festival

This year, the second reMusik festival presents new music of “the other Europe.” The musical output of Switzerland lagged behind the rest the continent in the beginning of the 20th century, and the overall decline of compositional output was so serious that in postwar years, schools of composition had to be established anew. Yet, in this country the “classics” are alive and well, though most of them were written in the past century. The musical culture in Switzerland is now experiencing vigorous development free from deeply rooted European compositional traditions; for this reason the festival organizers find it especially interesting and relevant to acquaint St. Petersburg audiences with musicians from this country.

A number of concerts highlight the musical culture of Switzerland. The festival is welcoming a wonderful ensemble from the country as its guests, and the works of Swiss composers will be performed by both Swiss and Russian groups. The year 2014 happens to mark the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries, and this auspicious date is being celebrated through a great number of cultural events in Russia and Switzerland.

This year’s festival opens on May 21st in the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, featuring a performance by renowned Swiss group Lemanic Modern Ensemble (Lausanne) joined by cellist Karolina Öman (Sweden(Switzerland). On May 23rd on the stage of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic (Glinka Hall) the ensemble will present another program, this time dedicated to French composers, and at 4 p.m. in the Documentary Film Studio there will be a lecture recital entitled “Microtonal Systems.”

Another Swiss group — ensemble Vortex — performs on May 25th. They will present a program of electroacoustic compositions from Latin America, Switzerland and Russia on the New Stage of the Aleksandrisky Theatre.

Another guest of the festival is a duo comprised of flutist Paolo Vignaroli and cellist Karolina Öhman. The audience will have the opportunity to see the exceptional mastery of performance achieved by these musicians on May 22nd on the New Stage of the Aleksandrinsky Theatre, where they will present pieces by composers from Italy, Finland and Germany.

The masterful performances of the “Studio for New Music Ensemble” (Moscow) are well-known to the contemporary music-loving public of St. Petersburg. On May 24th, in the Jaani Kirik Concert hall, the Moscow musicians will present the classics of contemporary Swiss music — Michael Jarrel, Beat Furrer and William Blank. The program also includes works of Moscow composers.

Of particular interest to both professional musicians and the general public are events promoting cultural exchange between Russian and foreign schools of composition. In this vein, the festival is organizing creative meetings at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with composers Vladimir Tarnopolsky (Moscow) and William Blank (Switzerland), and the musicians of ensemble Vortex will hold a master class in the Documentary Film Studio.

To fully complete the creative process, collective work is required from the composers, performers and audience members alike. Active listening is integral to musicmaking, just as much as a masterful performance, and the listener in this way becomes a member of the performance himself. We thank you for your participation and are sincerely happy to welcome you to the concerts of the second St. Petersburg New Music Festival reMusik!